Six launches are scheduled worldwide this week, with the third launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn, featuring a previously-flown booster, highlighting the week. SpaceX is expected to launch three Starlink missions this week: two from California and one from Florida.
Internationally, two Chinese rockets, a Lilian-1 and Chang Zheng 2D, are scheduled to launch unknown payloads from Jiuquan.
A Chinese commercial launch will take place on Tuesday, April 14, at 04:00 UTC from Site 130 at the Jiuquan Launch Center in Gansu, China. The four-stage, solid-propellant launch vehicle known as Lijian-1, or Kinetica 1, is expected to launch a currently unknown payload.
This will be the 12th launch of a Lijian-1, and the first of 2026.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-24
The first SpaceX launch of this week is on Tuesday, April 14, at 3:59 AM EDT (07:59 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. The four-hour launch window lasts until 6:13 AM EDT (10:13 UTC). Falcon 9 will loft 29 Starlink satellites into a 53.16-degree inclination orbit.
The Falcon 9 booster supporting this flight will be B1080, flying for the 25th time. The booster will land atop the autonomous droneship Just Read The Instructions, stationed approximately 640 km downrange of the launch site, in the Atlantic Ocean. B1080 has previously supported the Axiom Mission 2, Euclid, Axiom Mission 3, CRS-30, Astra 1P/SES-24, CRS-21, and 19 Starlink missions.
Falcon 9 is a 3.9 m diameter, 70 m tall two-stage rocket. Nine Merlin 1D engines power the first stage booster, while the expendable second stage utilizes a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy were the first orbital rockets to achieve regular reuse, with a Falcon booster having recently flown 34 flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered and reused after flight.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-27
SpaceX will switch operations to the west coast for the next Falcon 9 launch, which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, at 7:00 PM PDT (Wednesday, at 02:00 UTC) at the start of a four-hour launch window.
Falcon 9 will launch from Space Launch Complex 4-East (SLC4-E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California carrying 25 Starlink satellites into a low-Earth orbit (LEO).
Following launch, booster B1082 will land atop the autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You, stationed due south of SLC-4E in the Pacific Ocean. The droneship will deliver the booster to Long Beach, California, where the booster will be prepared for a return to Vandenberg.
This will be the 21st flight of booster B1082, which has previously supported 17 Starlink missions, plus USSF-62/WSF-M1, OneWeb #20, and NROL-145 (USA-23-544).
Chang Zheng 2D | Unknown Payload
China will launch a Chang Zheng 2D on Friday, April 17, at 04:10 UTC from Site 94 (SLS-2) at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China. The payload remains uncertain, but hazard notices indicate that the rocket will fly due south out of Jiuquan.
The Chang Zheng 2D rocket is manufactured by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and consists of two stages. Standing at a height of 40.77 m, all of the rocket’s stages are propelled by hypergolic propellants.
New Glenn | BlueBird Block 2 FM2
Blue Origin is set to launch its partially reusable New Glenn rocket on Friday, April 17, at 6:45 AM EDT (10:45 UTC), from Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) at CCSFS in Florida. This mission will mark Blue Origin’s first attempt at reusing a New Glenn first stage booster, with the previously flown GS1-SN002 Never Tell Me The Odds, which first flew on New Glenn’s second mission in November 2025, being used on this flight. This mission has a three-hour, fifty-eight-minute launch window.
Following launch and stage separation, Never Tell Me The Odds will attempt a landing atop Blue Origin’s booster recovery platform, Jacklyn, which will be stationed downrange in the Atlantic Ocean.
New Glenn will loft a single BlueBird Block 2 FM2 satellite, also known as BlueBird 7, into low-Earth orbit, flying a southeasterly trajectory. The payload masses 6,100 kg, and will join a small constellation providing cellular broadband services across the United States.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-22
Capping off the week, a Falcon 9 will launch on Saturday, April 18, at 7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC) from SLC-4E at VSFB in California. The four-hour launch window lasts until 11:00 AM PDT (18:00 UTC). Booster B1097 will support the mission, lofting 25 Starlink satellites into LEO on a southerly trajectory.
B1097 will be making its eighth flight and will land atop Of Course I Still Love You downrange in the Pacific Ocean. Previous missions supported by B1097 have included Twilight (Pandora & Others), Sentinel-6 B, and five Starlink missions.
If schedules hold, this mission will represent the 90th orbital launch attempt this year, and the 630th Falcon 9 mission to date.
(Lead Image: New Glenn launches from Florida. Credit: Max Evans for NSF)
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